The article describes the search tools in the Scopus abstract database. The author presents the examples of a compilation of thematic queries based on the experience of the Natural Science Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The ways of improving a query for obtaining relevant search results are described in detail. When creating a more complex query in Scopus, you should write all the keywords on the topic in one general bracket showing the boundaries of the application of the selected search field code. It is noted that previously identified inaccuracies in the work of the search engine Scopus have been corrected.

The article is devoted to the underexplored problem – the change of theistic beliefs and their reflection in the culture of Balkars and Karachays. The publication deals with a set of issues related to the change of the theistic views of the Karachay-Balkar people that took place over centuries. The characteristic is given to historical sources and facts of the existence of various rituals and beliefs inherited from the ancestors of modern Balkars and Karachays, former Tengrians and Christians.

The article is devoted to the experience of working with the Zotero bibliography manager in the system of selective information dissemination in the Library for Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The characteristic of the information and library service in the RAS is given. The course of work with the tools for exporting bibliographic information of publishing houses Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Oxford University Press and Zotero is described. It is concluded that the choice of a specific tool for importing information depends on the characteristics of each site.

The paper considers the phenomenon of cultural globalization at the present stage and the role of digital media in this process. The characteristic of social and cultural changes caused by information and communication technologies is given. It is pointed out that digital culture is a qualitatively new phenomenon that has emerged due to the development of digital media. The connection between digital culture and traditional, “pre-digital” is noted. The role of digital media in intercultural communication as a modifier of the communication system is described.

The Research article is devoted to the system of selective information propagation system (SIP) in the Library on Natural Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The previous stages of the development of SIP systems in the LNS of RAS and the experience of implementing the modern implementation of this information and library service in the RAS are described in the paper. The data of the questionnaire on the quality of the work of the selective information propagation system is given. Users were asked questions about the correspondence of sent thematic collections or tables of contents of journals to research, the type of information, the reference to the full texts of Research articles, the method of receiving notifications, the quality of the SIP service. Based on the results of the questionnaire, further steps were identified to improve the service.

The culture of gift exchange in China has a long history, has its own features and traditions, differing from the western ones. Gift-giving is closely related to Chinese hieroglyphic writing. Homonyms play an important role in Chinese, and this is often reflected in the symbolism of gifts.

The subject of analysis in this article is the linguocultural aspects of the characterization of gift-giving in Chinese linguistic consciousness, the consideration of the linguistic roots of the symbolism of gifts.

The purpose of the study is the culturological justification for choosing a gift.

The article is devoted to the compilation of a cultural profile of Singapore. The author seeks to follow the process of a national identity forming by the analysis of the historical development path of the state, a policy of “nation building”, normative documents aimed at regulating the relationship of various ethnic groups in Singapore and World Values Survey in five categories corresponding to the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede. Based on these data, the author draws conclusions about the existence of a cultural dominant in the multicultural society of Singapore.

The article considers the works of German scientists dedicated to understanding of the Idea of a University. The general and specific aspects of the concepts of researcher are revealed in the paper. The classical model of the University of Humboldt was the foundation for the development of numerous educational European systems. Scheler also attempted to reform the German university and presented his plan for the differentiation of educational institutions. The concepts of Humboldt and Scheler converge as related to the assertion of the primacy of the educational and humanistic functions of a university. Jaspers, convinced of the necessity of coexistence in the university of worlds of education, profession and research, tried to substantiate their relationships and balances for the successful implementation of spiritual work, which should develop at a university.

Recently, the word “xiaokang” is often used in China’s domestic politics. The concept of xiaokang is not new to Chinese social discourse. Even the ancient Chinese thinkers claimed that xiaokang was the model of an ideal society. In our time, the task of building a xiaokang society was put forward in the report of the President of PRC, Jiang Zemin at the 16th Congress of CCP as the main task for the next 20 years. The leaders of China talk about the three stages of building of an ideal society in China. Up to date, China has successfully completed the first stage of social and economic development – “Wenhui Bao” (lack of hunger and poverty). At present, the country is building a society of “average prosperity” (xiaokang), the third stage is an ideal society of “great harmony” – datong.

Deng Xiaoping in the 1980’s said that China would build a society based on the principle of “xiaokang”. According to the Confucius“s interpretation, this concept meant “a society of small prosperity.” Deng Xiaoping with reference to modern China called this “a society of average prosperity.”

The content and structure of the xiaokang concept is considered in the article, a cultural analysis of this concept is conducted.

The main goals and objectives of the study are to determine the connection between the modern social and political lexicon and the national culture and mentality of the Chinese people in order to develop a common view of the modern historical era under the conditions of the cultural and civilizational diversity of the world and to build constructive relations with China.

The paper considers the questions of revealing, fixing and the description of book plates in the fund of the Astrakhan regional scientific library named after N.K. Krupskaya. The book plate, being the main starting point in the study of the history and composition of book collections, makes it possible to determine whether the book belongs to a library, collector or organization. This study presents the initial stage of the reconstruction of the Library of the Union of Soviet and Trade Employees in the city of Astrakhan. The problems of the formation of library business in Soviet Russia after the Revolution of 1917 are highlighted as well.

The article is devoted to the analysis of art memes as a phenomenon of modern network communication. The main method of creating art memes is the method of appropriation. The characteristics of the tools used in the construction of verbal art memes are given based on the typology of art memes (visual, animated, verbal and synthetic). In addition, a typological scheme is proposed for analyzing the diversity of art memes within the framework of art-selfie and art-point dichotomy as two forms of interpretation of artistic content in the network space.

The subject of the study is family relations in Japan. The author considers in detail one of the most exciting and challenging aspects of the Japanese family life, a divorce. The main features of divorce in Japan after the adoption of the Constitution in 1947 are identified. This work describes the main measures of the Japanese Government, which are aimed at solving the problem of numerous divorces and a troubled demographic situation in the country. The author parallelizes the traditional way of life of IE, long-lived in Japan, highlighting similar and different features of a modern Japanese family.

The following article considers methodological questions arising in the study of hidden semantics, unstructured texts and a zero sign. We conducted significant analysis of the approaches reflecting different views on the ontological foundations of the phenomena under study, in the author’s opinion. A diverse character and mechanisms of possible interaction of various methods for generating a valid and relevant result are shown. The verification of the efficiency of this methodical apparatus can be verified by using it for any text formations with different purposes.

This article is a content reflection of the French original media texts material. The subject of the investigation was a combined by a single theme study of the Russia image, its president and recent events of the outgoing year. The language mechanisms of language evaluation tools activate the concepts and associations arising in connection with these concepts in the minds of foreign viewers. The scientific novelty of this article is that it allows us to study the basic principles of designing the image of our country by foreign journalists. The main method of research was to select a meaningful analysis of the leading French media and to identify the positive and negative reflection of Russian reality in the foreign press. The conclusions obtained as a result of the media analysis allow us to state that there is propaganda of a positive outlook on the events taking place in Russia, which is inherent in political correctness, tolerance and diplomacy.

The article attempts to correlate the stages of the Western cultural process with the stages of development of the Russian culture taken as a special part of the global cultural process. The principle of historicism is used as a scientific method. The dynamics of similar cultural phenomena formation is considered in comparison. Their internal basis, similarity and differences as well as social content are described. The historical principle underlying the periodization of the cultural process can be used by university teachers as a methodological basis in the teaching of cultural studies, history, philosophy, sociology, etc.

The paper considers the problem of determining the national and cultural identity of Russians, which becomes the main condition for the development of the modern state, the formation of civil and national unity. If the ethnicity of a person is determined by his/her birth, a nationality, then national and cultural identity implies an awareness of belonging to a national culture. In Russia, the Russian culture is such a culture, historically acting as a unifying principle, a center of spiritual and cultural attraction.

One of the less studied sociocultural determinants of artistic creativity is considered in the paper – the impressions received by future writers in the sensitive periods of personal development, which came into force and were important for impressionisms. A specific biographical material was used in the paper. The analysis of the essays of life and works of realist writers of the middle of the 19th century is carried out: I.A. Goncharova, I.S. Turgenev, N.A. Nekrasov, A.N. Ostrovsky. The sociocultural conditions for the formation of the creative intentions of realist writers in the mid-19th century are described in the paper. Impressions are considered as sociocultural determinants of the artistic creativity. The situation in the life of I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, O.N. Nekrasov and A.N. Ostrovskiy, influenced the future choice of literary creativity as such and the key theme of creativity — the topic of the people. It is shown that the impressions were bright, positive and negative impressions from communicating with ordinary people in childhood and adolescence. Strong impressions received by future writers in sensitive development periods become sociocultural determinants of their literary creativity in future: they contribute to the development of creative abilities and to a large extent determine the thematic focus of creativity.

The article presents the results of the study of young people’s perception of the sacral and unique natural places of Yakutia. The level of knowledge (veneration) of modern youth about the sacral (sacred) and unique places of Yakutia, the attitude to the problem of their preservation in a constant form is considered. The results of the study, which made it possible to establish the growth of youth’s interest in the sacral (sacred) and unique places of Yakutia, are described. The survey was conducted in December 2016 among young people in Yakutsk. Based on the conducted research, proposals to increase interest in sacred and unique natural places of Yakutia among young people were formulated.

According to the authors, chronotopy of the city is the systematization of urban ideas about space-time. Chronotopy includes such sections as: 1) “time-place”: historical and philosophical ideas about the past of the city and “genius loci” figures; 2) “profundity” and “turnover” of everyday life; 3) “designing” and “globalization” in the interpretation of the place and time of development of a city.

The concept of “chronotope”, used primarily for the analysis of artistic texts (M.M. Bakhtin et al); as well as for diagnosing typical educational or medical spaces (A.A. Ukhtomsky) is reconsidered. The relevance of the author’s concept is that the chronotope of the city, the notions of the meaning of place and time are included in the basic norms and values of citizens. The results of research of the city’s chronotopy are necessary for both politicians, and urbanists, and culturologists.

The article is dedicated to the study of the essence and prospects of using the culturological approach to visualizing texts of a literary work. The author identifies and describes the main approaches in understanding the visualization of the literary text. The article describes the experience of the F.M. Dostoyevsky Literary-Memorial Museum and the visualization of the literary text of the novel “Crime and Punishment” within the framework of the exhibition project “Investigate all the Issues in this Novel,” dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the novel, which was held in the museum in 2016. The author of the research made an attempt to trace the main methods of text visualization in the exhibition space and came to the conclusion on the effectiveness of the text visualization method as a tool for representing the diversity of interpretations of the literary source in the museum space.